Howdy heroes, my name is Roxis Kowaki and I'm a comic author in the making. This is my third comic written so far and my favorite as of this moment. Nathan Gregor took it apon himself to test a new experimental serum that would allow him to regenerate cells at an increased rate. Fortunately for us that's not all it did. Find out what exactly happened to our hero that made him just that, A HERO!

Submitted: March 24, 2017

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Submitted: March 24, 2017

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Amp: Issue 1,
EleMental Issues

“I think we need to see other
people.”

A few months ago my father, James
Gregor one of the lead scientist at the Military advanced equipment facility, had to display to some very important people what his scientist have been working on.

“No Nathan, you can’t. Even with that
big brain of yours you still can’t free it, even with highest grades and full scholarships you still can’t understand what it’s like to live, to take risk, to do before all the answers are sure.
You control everything in your life and that’s what I can’t do. I need risk. I need excitement. I need adventure… I do love you, but I can’t date a deadbolt my entire life.”

“Sarah, what if
I…”

“No Nathan, I’m heading to England in
two weeks. I’ll be there for a few months, tell ya what. When I get back we’ll sit over a cup of coffee. We can talk then.”

My whole life I was raised to be a
good kid, get good grades, be safe, and do my best. So I became the best. Graduated two years early, taught a few classes at the college, found a girlfriend, and now I’m twenty years old and still
don’t understand people. Never have. After that I worked with my dad in the lab for a while, tried to work to keep my mind off stuff. Dad however was working on a serum that could be used to
basically jump start some of your cells to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue, a regeneration serum. The whole day was a bit of a wreck, the guy who was going to be the volunteer for the
serum ended up not showing up, with so much on the line dad started freaking out.

“Damnit how could he drop out, if we
can't find a replacement I'll just have to do it on myself. Nathan do you think you could lead the presentation if we-”

Before we had time to devise a plan
the suits came through the door.

“Good day doctor Gregor! It's a
pleasure to be here in your facility. Quite a few trinkets you've prepared for us haven't you?”

The main guy we were speaking to
wasn't that “amazing” I guess. He was just another suit with a tie.

“Who might this young man be? I
didn't realize you allowed field trips to such a delicate place.”

It was obvious, they gave me funny
looks and didn't think I belonged where I was. Dad defended me though.

“This is my son Nathan, he is one of
the brightest minds ever in his school and in the lab he outdoes even myself sometimes. He's one of the best there is here.”

The suits were skeptical but allowed
me to stay.

“Let's get the demonstrations moving
shall we?”

First off dad wanted to show a laser
that could penetrate metal up to a mile away but only if the target stands still for exactly four seconds. They yawned. Then we displayed the jump jets which are little jet packs that would allow a
maximum of a five hundred pound man to jump roughly thirteen feet vertically. The test for projected jump, coordination and a variety of other things haven't been tested. So the suits called it a
fail. And with many other creations dad had made they just kept yawning and looking around. Dad started to make a big sweat and they could tell he was cracking.

“And finally,” dad started “this is
the serum your men have been looking for. With a bit of biological engineering I was able to create this serum that not only allows you to heal seven times faster than man but even regrow full
limbs. We've tested it on numerous animals and countless simulators and it truly is a marvel of our Lab.”

The suits weren't
impressed.

“Doctor Gregor, have you actually
tried this on a man?”

The room fell
silent.

“Not even a single test that confirms
that this will work on a living human being.”

Dad tried to defend as best he
could.

“Well it's not finished we still have
a few-”

“I've heard enough.” the suit
interrupted. “If you can't confirm that this serum actually works on a person then what are we paying you for? You can't give us any…”

Dad was breaking down in sweat and I
was helpless but to watch even with my knowledge I didn’t know how to prove it.

“Even with that big brain of
yours you still can’t free it, even with highest grades and full scholarships you still can’t understand what it’s like to live, to take risk, to do before all the answers are
sure.”

As the suits were degrading dad’s
career I grabbed the serum. The world is a terrifying place, not knowing all the answers and all you can do I hope you make it to the next day or knowing that one day millions of years from now
none of this will matter, I could never tell which one is more terrifying. I stuck the syringe into my lower left arm. “Time to learn to live a little I guess.” After a few seconds everything
became blurry and my skin started to look flushed, a migraine set in and a wave of illness fell over me, I had to hit the floor. Everyone gave me their attention.

“Nathan, what are you
doing?”

After a moment of people giving me
breathing room I stood back up on the ground.

The suit started up again, “This is
exactly why reckless children shouldn’t be allowed in this facility, do you underst-“

Before the suit could say anything
else I shoved the syringe through my hand. The room fell silent before I pulled it out and waited for almost thirty seconds of some very annoying sharp pain. We sat there and waited, not long after
my hand formed and molded back to normal before their eyes. They looked in shock and awe in front of me. “I mean no disrespect gentlemen, but maybe being a little reckless is needed
sometimes.”

“Please excuse us Dr. Gregor, I must
discuss with my colleagues.”

As the suits went to talk dad
scurried over to me. “Are you completely insane Nathan? We don't know what that stuff will do to you, it's not ready! This isn’t like you, what’s been going-”

As dad spoke I felt the weird feeling
of butterflies fluttering in my hand bouncing around. Such an odd sense but I could tell my hand was hard at work repairing itself inside and out, maybe I went overboard. “Dr. Gregor, we've decided
to reconsider our previous action. We will continue to fund your research, we will also increasing the budget to your program.”

After that my father and the suit
shook hands and dad smiled ear to ear.

“Dr. Gregor would your son excuse us
while we talk over some of the details. Don't think the boy would want to be bored with paper work talk for an hour.”

“I agree, Nathan would you clean up
the lab a bit then head home and tell your mother the great news please.”

They all started leave, dad was so
damn happy he was shaking just talking to them. And myself, I felt so different. My body was now “the pinnacle of science and health”, and I was determined to not be the old Nathan. I started to
move some of the items back, as I pushed a terminal back into place a massive spark of electricity struck from the machines to my fingertips. I was startled and jumped back into a chemistry stand.
The chemicals spilt to the floor and then the alarms went off. Siren after siren went off in my ear and the lab doors started to close. I ran to the security door but as soon as I touched the
keypad more electricity sprouted from the keys to my fingertips igniting some of the loose gas, the room ignited, then I felt bolts of electricity strike my back. My skin felt so hot and in pain
and my back felt like thousands of lashes were striking it. I fell to my knees and I thought my heart stopped as my eyes began to become warm and everything was bright. I looked up at the
reflection in the glass and saw my father kneeling in front of the door staring at me in horror. I caught a glimpse of what he saw, yelling in agony and fear I saw my reflection staring back at me.
Electricity was flying out of my neon white eyes and my skin was being cooked as hundreds of lightning bolts flayed my skin. With my final struggle I passed out and hit the
floor.

The next thing I remember is waking
up in a hospital. Looking around the room my father and mother sat in a few of the chairs asleep and connected to my finger was an odd metal clamp. Not a hospital type one but more of a tiny jumper
cable. I propped myself up and saw the car battery itself.

“Why the hell is there a car battery
in here, and why is it connected to me?” a man walked from the door of my room to me.

“I understand how disorienting this
may be, your body kept experiencing what we thought were seizure at the time. We weren't aware of what was really going on or what it could do so we tried a variety of things. It was only till we
tried to use a defibrillator did your father figure out your body reacted with heavy amounts of electricity. He explained what the serum was and how it worked. Your body regenerates naturally at an
increased rate currently, however when you are under heavy amounts of power input your body regenerates ten times quicker.”

So they clamped a car battery to me
so I'd heal quicker, brilliant. This man didn't look like a doctor or a nurse or even a scientist. He was more militaryish, tall, bald and a slight 5 o'clock shadow, he looked almost like a bad
dictator. “Who are you?” I asked with what energy I could muster.

“A very important man Mr. Gregor, a
very important man that is proud of you and your father's sacrifice for science. It's been an honor meeting you.” The tall man shook my hand then left. After that I attempted to relax again but a
grumble came from my stomach. Luckily the nurses were nice enough to try and bring me breakfast and left a tray next to my bed. I reached for the metal tray and before I could grab it with a flat
hand facing the tray it started to pull towards me, startled I stopped for a moment. I unhooked the battery and took the clamp off my finger, electricity can causes a magnetic pull so I thought
maybe that was the problem. I looked at the small clamp with curiosity and attempted to grab it again when a small bolt flew from it to my finger, it was like a brief adrenaline rush but my fingers
didn't hurt or sting. I kept playing with the bolts of electricity for a time and sometimes just watched as I conducted electricity. Eventually it stopped and I checked my heart rate on the
monitor, it was around a hundred and twenty. Not too bad for a resting heart rate I suppose. But for the electricity I just took it should be flatland. I stopped playing with the battery and put
down the wire finally. I turned towards the metal tray once again and thought I'd test a theory. Facing the palm of my hand to it I pretended to move it with my mind. Nothing happened by when I
started to focus on the lid my view started to light up and glow, then a huge burst of electricity shot from my hand to the lid. The food tray went flying and smashed against the wall. My parents
woke up in a daze and thought someone was breaking in.

“What's going on, Nathan are you
okay?” I didn't reply I just looked at them then at the TV. I pointed my hand to the TV and focused, another huge bolt of lightning blasted from my palm to it, unfortunately destroying the TV. I
looked at my parents and finally replied. “I don't think the serum was correct.”

For the next three days we discussed
what happened, my mother wasn’t a fan of her “baby boy” going through so much trauma.

“It was irresponsible and reckless, I
couldn’t lose either of you! Nathan, your whole life I’ve told you to be careful and you-“

“Mom?”

She stopped and sighed. “Yes
dear?”

I hugged her “I’m okay, everything
will be fine.”

“Are you really though? What if
you-“

It was always like a mom to worry,
I’m sure almost every mother did the same. “Mom…”

My hug on her became tighter and I
heard a sniffle come from her. She paused and looked me in the eyes.

“I love you
mom.”

Within the next week my body had
healed from some severe second degree burns. My parents and I returned home. It wasn’t even seventy-two hours before some scientist as well as the bald man came knocking on our
door.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Gregor, it’s a
pleasure to see both of you again. I think you folk could use some well-deserved R.N.R. As well as some paid vacation, so we were talking to your lead lab assistant about starting up the serum
project again with the additional funding. Now, I don’t mean to bother you so recent to a terrifying event but I was just wondering if I could get some of Nathan's blood so we can examine what
happened to his blood cells?”

I was skeptical, this General was
very polite I’ll give him that but, he just didn’t seem right. Dad gave me the biggest puppy dog eyes though and fortunately I actually enjoy my family so I gave in. After shoving some very
uncomfortable needles in my arm and getting a variety of blood, plasma, and urine they all left. My parent and I could now breathe easy and rest for a while. Rest for my parents at least, before
night fell I set up a little target range in the back of our house in the yard and propped up some cans. Like the T.V. ever can went with a zap. Mom came outside to see what I was up
too.

“You know, I always did think you
were an energetic kid.”

She giggled more at her joke then I
could have tried to.

“Diner will be ready in a few Nathan,
finish up please.”

I gave mom a nod and fire a few more
before I realized slowly the energy reduced more and more, eventually it was depleted. I couldn’t shoot them anymore.

“Well, guess that’s the end of my
parlor trick.”

After firing the last bolt a few
coughs came from my lungs and some blood was splattered into my sleeve. I turned towards the house started to walk, my head became very light and I struggled to walk. I attempted to stumble inside
through the back door but as soon as I got through the sliding door I was leaning for the counter. I walked for the living room but collapsed on the ground before the couch, I started to pass out
as a silhouette got off the couch. Hearing thumping, voices, and beeping I was barely able to keep focus until I heard whirring. “Clear!” then a thump of electricity hit my chest so hard it fried
the emergency defibrillator we had in the house, we later figured out I actually took all of the electricity from it. After the defibrillator and a couple gasps for air, I felt perfectly fine,
nothing hurting, sore, banged up, or anything.

My mother was terrified “Nathan, what
just happened?” before I could say anything my father approached use with sheets of paper in his hand.

My mother being ecstatic ripped them
out of his hands and frantically looked at the sheets.

“Nathan, the serum wasn’t finished
obviously and it altered your cells a little.

“Yea dad, we already knew
that.”

“Well your cells now can or rather
must hold an electric charge so that you can live normally. With high amounts of energy transfer someone should die, but your body can absorb energy in a very strange way.”

I crawled over to an outlet,
believing was seeing right? I small spark appeared that led to a bigger one, it could have gotten bigger but the lights in the house started to dim a lot. I looked over at my parents and removed my
hand away from the outlet. They were in shock. My father held up his phone and I saw the camera facing myself. It was me again, bright white eyes and all. I reached for the phone and saw the
battery quickly drop from ninety percent to zero percent. A small smile appeared from my face and I started to chuckle a little. I walked outside and looked for the sky, happy was a feeling that I
hadn’t felt since Sarah left, but I felt it again, at least just a small sense of joy. I aimed up and shot huge bolts of electricity to the sky. Soon my eyes stopped glowing, and I started to feel
“average” again.

The following week things slowly went
back to normal besides the everyday after school training I put myself through. I wanted to learn more and more about what the serum was doing to my body so like a scientist I conduct many trials.
While I was focusing my efforts on my own abilities weird things were going on at the Military advanced equipment facility.

"General, these are some of the
lowlife we've collected. Pierce, a sociopath that slaughtered, maimed, and cooked twenty seven people in three hours at five different locations. Three life sentences. Jacob, a very big and very
intimidating inmate who killed half the population at their most recent visit to state prison. Death sentence. Finally Ash and Jena Aqualin, twin sisters who robbed, held up, and tore down three
different banks by themselves in two hours. Life sentence. They've all been under restrain and anastasia for the last thirty six hours and on your command well administer the
serum."

"These scum will make the sacrifice
for our new foundation, with the Gregor boy offering himself up for the experiment willingly scum like this should be honored to follow in his footsteps. Light 'em up doctor."

They took some of the worst criminals
and experimented on then trying to deem it humane. They weren't the best people but they didn't deserve to be test rats. It's been a few months now and I’ve learned a lot. I don't sleep, drink, or
eat as much anymore and I've learned how to use my new abilities in daily life. With such a grace period without worrying about school, work, or anything really I wanted to “live” a little more, I
want to understand people and my new abilities. Now every friday I go downtown for some midday coffee. Nothing but a little shot of a lot of coffee, I’ve learned to enjoy expressos. Walking around
I learned something else that my new abilities could do.

"AND IT'S GOING GOING GOING GONE!
THAT ANOTHER HOMERUN FOR THE ---" I can pick up radio signals. Ever so slightly I could listen in on a radio wave or even sometimes a phone call. Really bad power to have if you are expecting a
surprise for Christmas. Some of them are easy to hear and clear but the farther away they get the harder they are to hear. Today there’s some bad news, in the last couple months a technical issue
happened at the M.A.E.F and resulted in a lot of problems for the rest of us. Like three escaped convict running around causing havoc.

"Attention all units, all units are
required to take immediate action to get to downtown as soon as possible. The three missing convicts are engaging in warfare downtown and we need immediate reinforcement.”

I was near downtown, so I took a deep
breath and an open mind I wanted to see what's going on. So I dropped my espresso and ran as fast as I could. When I approached the district the police report was specifying the air was still but a
path of destruction could be followed. Scorch marks and chunks of boulders could be seen all around. While traveling through one of the back alleyways a swat car came swarming around the corner. It
drove to one of the farther streets down the road where it soon literally came flying back from.

"Agh! The convicts have been found
they're on fifth Street near the -"

Before he could finish a fireball
flew toward the car from the direction the car had just flew from and it was set ablaze. I crouched down behind a nearby dumpster and peeked over. I heard cackling and stomping but then soon found
three people walking down the street. The first was a young man only a few years older than myself, he was bald in a no sleeve maroon hoodie with fire sprouting from his hands and eyes, the second
was a huge orange and brown rock formation that nearly looked like a man. And the last one caught me off guard because the thing came out of nowhere and was transparent. This last thing was shaped
like a girl and had water dripping from itself as it hovered above the ground. They were heading in my direction, I was going to hide till they were gone but then.

"Reeeeeeeee!"

A screech came into my ear and the
weird water girl thing came out the ground and picked me up. Gasping for air it hovered over to its friend and dropped me to the ground.

"Hey there lil guy, you must be
pretty brave to hide in the open like that. What's your name, how are you today?"

I could barely get it out. "N- N-
Nathan Gr- Gregor, I’m fine."

“That's a familiar name, where do I
know you from? What do you think Jacob?"

The rock formation moved its lips but
little noise come through. "Noaaa wheeee."

The rock formation then gestured to
the water girl thing who had no response.

“Well, no matter. Sorry kid, but I’ve
got an example to make, see my body count is high but I ain’t small time. I’m thinking big. Besides, I’m only like five away from a kill streak.” A small blue flame in his palm soon turned to a
bright red flame engulfing his entire hand.

“Hope there no hard
feelings.”

He reached out for my head and I felt
my heart racing in my chest. All of the sudden various car alarms nearby went off and the street lights began to flicker in mid-day, apparently nearly having a heart attack makes me surge. The
three were distracted by the alarms for a second so I took in as much energy as I could. My eyes became bright and warm and they started to notice.

I channeled a bolt of energy and
dispersed it right into the pyromaniac’s stomach. “Aghhhhhhhh!”

The man went flying and hit the
pavement head first. The ghost girl screamed at me then flew right at me, trying to defend myself I put my hands up and they connected, a huge bright light was created almost blinding even myself.
The rock formation and the ghost girl both were dazed and scuffed at their eyes. As this happened I took a chance to run away into a nearby cloths store. Crouching down behind the counter I saw the
rock creature head towards it’s friend and the ghost girl disappeared into the ground. Now I was in a war, at first these guys just wanted to cause a bit of trouble, now they had a reason to hate
me. I needed a plan.

“The pyromaniac was just an average
person so a good trauma would knock him down easy. The rock creature has a brain, I think, but if it does have a brain I could fry it. Lastly would be the ghost girl, she’s composed of water and
electricity and water don’t really mix so I guess I could try and-”. I heard sirens approaching and listened in to the radio, the police were sending in swat teams to take down the “freaks”. I
decided to wait it out and stay where I was, having a bit of back up would be even better.

Within moments I heard heavy feet
stomping, boots walking, and weird moist sound, they were on the hunt. Minutes passed luckily before they made any huge investigations the sirens finally arrived. Swat teams flooded the streets and
aimed right at the convicts. A man in a more traditional cop’s uniform stood atop a car with a bullhorn.

“We ask that you put your hands on
your head, kneel down, and turn around! Will you comply?”

He stated to them. They were
positioned by accident so that the convicts backs were turned to me, I attempted to sneak up and get a closer look.

“On your dead body chief! Give em a
show Jacob!”

The rock formation ripped a fire
hydrant out of the ground and throw it at one of the cars. As I was walking through the clothing shop I picked up a hoodie with a face cover and put it on. I finally approached the remaining
convicts and they were none the wiser I was there. The tension in the air was thick and the feeling of death was coming. The rock creature charged at the swat team and they opened fire. I hopped
onto the water girt creature and put my hands roughly where her wet ears were. I flexed all the muscles I had in my arms and fortunately this thing still was mostly human. An ear bleeding screams
was given as I fried the girls head and all of us couldn't handle it besides the rock creature. After pumping a car battery into the creature head, I hopped off and the rock creature grabbed me as
he ran literally into a building. Smashing me against a wall I felt my parts of my chest give. I was running low on energy and was starting to pass out. I need to move and do something quick. The
creatures raised a hulking fist at me and was about to swing I clapped my hands together on the creature's head and made a bolt flow through it’s head. The creature dropped to the ground, before he
fell he ended up throwing me into a van.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

I fell unconscious for a few moments
before I was woken up by the car alarm.

“Would someone shut that damn thing
off…?”

I was very hurt and very annoyed, a
couple broken ribs, scratched up back, and a hell of a headache. I was terrified, but honestly it was a little exciting, learning to “Live a little.”

I absorbed the car batteries energy
and Pyro through a fireball at me before tackling me to the ground. A punch to the eye, then to the nose, then to the eye again. After that he pulled off and ignited his hands.

“You are really starting to piss me
off Sparks!”

He began to reach for my throat. In a
flurry I tried to get up or get him off at least, he had me pinned I caught his hands in midair and gave him every volt I had, while this was going on he was melting my hands
away.

“You know what's really funny Sparks?
I wonder if you can feel all them volts in your hands. I ask because, well damn just because I can set my own hands on fire doesn’t mean I can't feel it. And you know what buddy, I love the heat.
The way it chars my hand and how I can always smell burning flesh.”

I felt the heat as it burnt and
cooked my hands, he was getting hotter and madder by the volt but he was psychotic. I didn’t have enough energy to get him off or blow him away and he was cooking my hands. The fire he was now
producing engulfed his arms and he didn’t care the swat team was firing at him he wanted me dead. He wasn’t going to stop till I was gone so I started shaking, panicking, and even vibrating.
Vibrating so much I couldn’t feel my body anymore. I started to feel light and the car wasn’t against my back anymore, I shot forward and through the pyromaniac appearing now behind him. My body
had went into a state of panic and separated then reconfigured behind the pyro. I snapped around and placed my hands on the side of his head.

“No, I don't feel a
thing.”

”Arg!”

And just like that his flames went
out and he hit the ground. I got off of him and stepped back. The swat team came and grabbed both the bodies. The ghost girl they nick named Banshee escaped and so did I. The swat aimed their
rifles at me and asked that I come with them. I made a flash again and blinded half of them while I ran away. The police report of a fourth convict that fought against the others in the downtown
event, they say he’s on the loose and his intent is unknown. A lot of news reports have been going off on what happened downtown and with that “Amp” as the people call him, has become popular. On
my way home I tried to cover up my now half melted hands and found an electrical power line to recharge on. My hands regrew in moment and all the big bruises I had vanished while the open wounds I
had closed up. They still sting like all hell, just not a bloody and tattered now. When I arrived home my mother was sitting there on the living room couch with a stethoscope and a medical
kit.

“Your father showed me the news, a
young man with the ability to shoot lightning from his hands and blind half an army was all the talk. You know if you wanted to be a police officer, physician, educator, or whatever I’d smile and
stand behind you the whole way.”

As I approach the couch she begins to
giggle and a tear fell down her cheek.

“And that won’t change. I may not
agree with this, nor would I ever want you in any danger but you're not out doing drugs, joining gangs, and causing a disaster. You’re doing the right thing, and people see you as a hero. They said
that over twenty seven people died and there were over a hundred casualties downtown that day but now because of you those people can rest easy knowing those monsters are off the street. I know
you're smart and so damn stubborn so if it wouldn't be worth my time asking you to stop I may as well take care of my baby boy the best I can.”

She wipes away the second tear that
falls on her cheek, and I see on the coffee table in front of her is scattered outfit designs, a bunch of blueprints, various equations, and an open computer with electrical conduction
reports.

“Heavens, look at me. So proud of the
man you’ve become I started crying. I don’t know what's gotten into you lately but this is our reality know. Now come here and let me have a look at that broken ri-.”

Before she could finish I wrapped my
arms around her, I started to cry and she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore either. The next few months after the downtown attack dad returned to work on the serum project, the military was
going all out into the project and they needed the best scientist back in action, especially after the convicts broke out and caused a bunch of mayhem. I was worried about people looking for this
“Amp” so I started a disguise. Some goggles, and a hoodie with a mouth guard. Not the best, but it works.

“All units, all units, Banshee has
been spotted near the interstate off amber street. Immediately back up has been issued. If any-”

Kind of sucks that the strongest
signal I can listen to just happens to be the police channel, but in any case that meant it's time to go to work, it’s time to “live” again. The glow came back to my eyes and I left for the
interstate.